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Harbinger (episode)
For the Vanguard novel, click here. For the DS9 video game, click here. The Enterprise rescues an alien from a massive spatial anomaly, but its lone pilot refuses to explain why he was there. Reed and Hayes confront each other over their roles on the ship. Summary Teaser Commander Tucker is in his quarters, practicing Vulcan neuropressure on someone's foot. The camera angle changes, and reveals it to be Corporal Amanda Cole, rather than his usual partner (T'Pol). After completing a few other pressure points, Amanda turns round, and stares at Trip. She kisses him, and then walks out, leaving him looking surprised, but happy. Act One Captain Archer calls Lieutenant Reed to his ready room to discuss training sessions with the MACOs. Major Hayes has already discussed including the senior officers in the training sessions, but Reed has some objections to taking orders from the Major. However, he accepts his orders. On the bridge, Ensign Mayweather comments that the stars directly ahead appear to be shifting positions. The ''Enterprise'' proceeds to investigate the phenomenon. They arrive to find that it is a convergence of a large number of spatial anomolies. Ensign Sato picks up a weak transmission coming from within the disturbance. T'Pol identifies its source as a small pod containing one humanoid life sign. Captain Archer instructs Lieutenant Reed to deploy the grappler, and they attempt to remove the pod. Upon trying to pull the pod out, the disturbance suddenly expands and envelops the primary hull. Small spatial disturbances begin forming on the bridge, disrupting a few systems, and ammonium sulphide starts accumulating in the atmosphere. The captain orders full reverse from the Engineering crew, and the Enterprise manages to escape, along with the pod. Dr. Phlox asks T'Pol to join him in sickbay to discuss Corporal Cole. She has been to see the Doctor because of headaches, which Phlox associates with the neuropressure sessions she'd been receiving from Commander Tucker. Phlox recommends that T'Pol should try to remedy the situation by conducting further sessions with the Corporal, and that Trip should be discouraged from continuing with her. In the shuttlebay, Archer, Reed and Trip open the pod, and discover a humanoid inside, alive, with many electrodes connecting him to the pod. Act Two They take him to sickbay, where Phlox tries to revive the alien. In the Command Center, T'Pol has been working on the readings from the disturbance, and has gathered some interesting data. She has deduced that the disturbance is located exactly in the center of five spheres. Archer hypothesises that the spheres are the cause of the disturbance. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Reed and Major Hayes argue over the timing of the training sessions, much to the Major's exasperation. Reed is unhappy about the Major going over his head with his recommendation to the Captain. The Captain wants the Doctor to revive the alien but Phlox states that's unethical. Archer says they're to going to have to bend a few ethics. Act Three In T'Pol's quarters, she is conducting a neuropressure session with Amanda. They discuss Amanda's apparent attraction to Trip, which Amanda admits to, much to the surprise of T'Pol. The Doctor confirms to Archer that the alien is dying, but not just dying – he is disintegrating. There isn't much that Phlox can do to stop the alien's demise. In one of the cargo bays, Major Hayes has set up a session of hand-to-hand combat, and the MACOs and the senior officers are paired up against each other. Both groups appear to be equally matched, much to Reed's relief. The session goes well, until one of the MACOs goes over the top with Mayweather. Travis seems to not be too badly hurt, but Malcolm stops the session, and demands that the Major keeps control of his soldiers. The alien's condition continues to deteriorate, and he continues to demand to be returned to the disturbance site. However, Archer is adamant that he needs more answers about why he was there. He reveals that he is from a trans-dimensional realm, and then experiences a further development - his hand starts to phase. Hayes sets up a weapon targeting session as part of his new training regime. Malcolm doesn't score very high in his first attempt, much to his disappointment, and he isn't consoled by the Major's comments. Afterwards, in the crew's mess, Trip engages Malcolm in discussion concerning the training sessions. Malcolm doesn't wish to discuss Major Hayes, but is more interested in the rumors of a relationship between Amanda and Trip. Trip is equally unkeen to discuss this conversation. Trip goes to see T'Pol for his neropressure session, and discusses his situation with Amanda with her. T'Pol learns that Trip is attracted to her, and quickly kisses him before taking off her clothes and kissing him again... In sickbay, the Doctor talks to the steadily sickening alien about Denobula and Earth. As the Doctor turns away to consult a medical screen, the alien attacks him, knocking him unconscious, before discovering that he can pass through solid walls - he walks through the sickbay wall. Act Four The alien's passage through the ship causes ship-wide power failures that T'Pol notes are a way to track his progress. Reed and Hayes are in the middle of a big fight, when they are called to duty to attempt to track down the alien. They intercept him, but their weapons have no effect. In engineering, Trip encounters the alien, but is knocked unconscious seconds before the MACOs and Reed arrive. The alien then pushes his hand into the warp core, destabilising the magnetic seals. With Hayes's help, Reed is able to reverse the polarity of the field coils, and this repels the alien. Hayes and Reed are called to the Captain's ready room for a dressing down because they've been fighting again. He orders their dispute to be ended right now. Back in sickbay, the alien deteriorates further, and disintegrates completely, but not before telling Archer that his people are involved with the Xindi plan to destroy Earth. :"When the Xindi destroy Earth, my people will prevail." Trip and T'Pol discuss their intimacies over coffee in the crew's mess. T'Pol attempts to dismiss the event as an "experiment into human sexuality". They both agree to keep their secret between themselves. Background Information *This is the first appearance of a member of the species that would later be revealed as the Sphere Builders. *Thomas Kopache, who played the test subject here, has portrayed a number of different characters and aliens over the years. He appeared as Mirok (TNG: "The Next Phase"), the engineer (TNG: "Emergence"), [[USS Enterprise-B|USS Enterprise-B]] Communications officer (Star Trek: Generations), Viorsa (VOY: "The Thaw"), Kira Taban (DS9: "Ties of Blood and Water", "Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night") and Tos (ENT: "Broken Bow"). *While Canadian viewers were treated to an unedited version, US audiences were delivered a censored version in which T'Pol's posterior is edited out of the love scene. It has been speculated that this was due to a recent uproar involving nudity on television, though the scene is intact on US DVDs. Nitpicks *While the alien was discovered without clothing, he was later seen dressed. As he began to phase out of sight, his clothes disintegrated as well. *It's probably not a good idea for Lt. Reed and Major Hayes to be firing their phase pistols so close to the warp core. *When the tactical alert was aniciated, an alerm was sounded that has never appeared in any episodes prior to this or after this. Links and References Guest Stars * Noa Tishby as Amanda Cole * Thomas Kopache as The Alien * Steven Culp as J. Hayes References Delphic Expanse sphere, cellular degeneration, Chosen Realm, gravimetric anomaly, helm, Klingon, light-year, Lunar survival training, magnetic containment, Makers, Military Assault Command, Triannon, Triannon mythology Category:ENT episodes de:Der Vorbote nl:Harbinger